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Quake sparks fears of 2004 havoc repeat
Big shock: A woman holds her baby after moving to a hospital car park for safety shortly after a 7
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span class="inline inline-center">Big shock: A woman holds her baby after moving to a hospital car park for safety shortly after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Sinabang Island, off the coast of Aceh, on Wednesday. Reuters/stringer
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook Aceh early Wednesday, triggering momentary fears of a repeat of the quake that wreaked havoc on the area in 2004, but an ensuing tsunami warning was quickly cancelled.
Moments after the quake struck, the meteorology and geophysics agency sounded the tsunami alert, while people were already sprinting to higher ground.
Hundreds of people lined the Lamnyong Bridge in Banda Aceh to assume a good vantage point in anticipation of a tsunami.
“We were asleep when it happened. It shook me so strongly that I became dizzy,” Umi, a resident in Lhokseumawe, said.
In 2004, a 9.15-magnitude earthquake sent a gigantic tsunami crashing deep into Aceh’s coastal areas, killing 160,000 people.
No fatalities were reported in Wednesday’s quake, which struck 75 kilometers southeast of Sinabang Island, and triggered blackouts throughout Aceh.
The quake did not cause significant damage on Singkil, but one mosque was reported flattened.
A number of roads suffered cracks and several houses were inundated with floodwater from an overflowing river after part of the ground shifted by 30 centimeters, a local official said, Large waves were reported to have dragged fishing boats onto beaches in Pulau Banyak district.
Five aftershocks hit after the initial quake, the largest — a 5.5-magnitude tremor — struck at 6:35 am.
A number of people were injured on Sinabang during the panic, and a number of houses were damaged by the quake, according to Abdul Karim, the spokesman for Simeuleu regency.
The quake was felt in North and West Sumatra. An orphanage in Binjai, North Sumatra, collapsed after all 60 occupants had evacuated the building. In Padang, the quake lasted for three to four minutes, according to those who felt it.
A student at a nurse’s academy in Padang, Amelia Anggarwati, described her experience. “The window panes and the water in the dispenser shook. We swayed but we did not flee the house because it was shaking too strongly,” she said.
Residents of Siberut Island, Mentawai Islands, near Nias, said the quake had lasted a long time but was not very powerful.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed relief the quake had not caused major widespread damage.
Apriadi Gunawan and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb contributed to the story from Medan and Padang.
